A woman fatally shot an Uber driver. Police say she wrongly thought she was being kidnapped

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

A woman fatally shot an Uber driver. Police say she wrongly thought she was being kidnapped

June 25, 2023

EL PASO, Texas (AP) — A Kentucky woman has been accused of fatally shooting her West Texas Uber driver after mistakenly believing she was being kidnapped and taken to Mexico, according to police.

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The shooting took place on June 16 as Piedra was driving Copas to a location in far southeast El Paso. Copas, who is from Tompkinsville, Kentucky, was in El Paso visiting her boyfriend, according to authorities.

During the ride, Copas saw traffic signs that read “Juarez, Mexico,” according to an arrest affidavit. El Paso is located on the U.S.-Mexico border across from Juarez.

Believing she was being kidnapped and taken to Mexico, Copas is accused of grabbing a handgun from her purse and shooting Piedra in the head, according to the affidavit. The vehicle crashed into barriers before coming to a stop on a freeway.

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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/uber-murder-driver-shot-kidnapping-mexico-5ab60092bb0a3710090b7186723adf88

[Blues Heron]

1. We really have to get rid of the guns

[dchill]

2. And that IS probably just the scenario she imagined...

...that prompted her to buy the gun and carry it.

[Merlot]

3. "The vehicle crashed into barriers before coming to a stop on a freeway."

Yes, shoot the driver, that's always the sane response when you have a gun.

[yellowdogintexas]

4. We've driven through El Paso probably 14 times and passed the Juarez exits

every time. The exits split and one lane is south to Juarez and the other to a location in El Paso. I think there are more than one exits to Juarez; it's been a while since we used the El Paso route to Phoenix.

Of course someone from Tompkinsville Ky would not necessarily know this about interstate highways in general. It's kind of out in the boonies.

Damn guns. What I want to know is how she got on the plane from wherever she started out with a damn gun in her purse? She must have had it in her checked luggage and moved it to her purse after she got out of the terminal.

[DetroitLegalBeagle]

6. Probably checked the gun in her checked bag

And put it in her purse once she got her bags at baggage claim. For some states, only the secure area of the airport bans guns, not the entire area. Baggage areas, in my experience, are never secured. You could get your bag with the gun off the carousel, walk to the nearest bathroom and arm up in there.

[Wonder Why]

5. When I used to live in southern NM 30+ years ago, I worked in El Paso. The signs for

Juarez were really big and one could easily feel that you were stuck on the approach to the bridge to Juarez and even I would get confused. I few times I got nervous because, while the drive over was no big deal, one could be stuck in traffic for hours to re-enter the U.S.